


Red River

by Crackedkybercrystal



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Ben Solo isn't circumcised, F/M, Masturbation Interruptus, Rey is not lady McBeth, Space Virgins, bathhouse shenanigans, force witches, kylo Ren has a debt to pay, phallic throne, professional grade cockblocking, too many clothes, too much plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-15 12:29:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16063184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crackedkybercrystal/pseuds/Crackedkybercrystal
Summary: Kylo knows this is not going to turn out the way he thought it would. He regrets that he didn't sever his foreskin and offer it over immediately when that was the going price, but negotiations have moved on. A future, as yet unknown commitment, seems the best he can salvage, he's desperate for information and the force hags can smell it on him.





	1. Chapter 1

"What are you willing to pay?"

"I'm the Supreme Leader of The First Order, if you value your lives..." he blusters, but the blind hags only cackle with glee.

"Give us your foreskin" one shrieks. Kylo pales, he knows removing the foreskin of newborn boys is a custom practiced by some savage tribes in the wastelands, but losing this flap of skin now is something he'd rather not contemplate. 

"or a promise", suggests another of the hags, "that you will do something for us when we ask, a gift for you and a gift for us", the hags all smile, their rotted dentures on full display. "yes, yes, a token for a lover" they coo in unison. Kylo knows this is not going to turn out the way he thought it would. He regrets that he didn't sever his foreskin and offer it over immediately when that was the going price, but negotiations have moved on. A future, as yet unknown commitment, seems the best he can salvage, he's desperate for information and the force hags can smell it on him. 

"Yes", he replies, "I will do whatever you ask at a future date".

As if they are possessed of a single mind, the sith witches begin to spasm and fit. They're screaming now in an ancient tongue Kylo can't understand, but he doesn't have to, the image they reveal is seared into his mind. 

He sees a dark cliff face carved into the helm of his grandfather. Beneath the mouth grill flows a deep wide river, only it's not water, but blood. Red like the death beam bursting from Starkiller base. It's the life blood of every person Vader murdered, and there were so many, but Kylo knows his own blood is also flowing through this vein. He watches the blood river flow into a desert landscape, and then the land, which was barren and empty, blooms into life. There are fruit trees and animals of every type exploding into lush and verdant fields, butterflies dance amongst the flowers now hanging over the river banks. Suddenly a dust storm looms on the horizon, then sweeps across the landscape. All that had been is withered away in a moment, the bones of the dead lying bleached beneath the sun. Now the river has become a red ribbon, reaching across the galaxy. It is the force bond that connects him to Rey, and all Kylo has to do to find her is feel the force and fulfill his destiny. 

Kylo returns to the present realm, and sees the hags are all sleeping like well fed babes where they had stood. He considers how easy it would be to draw his saber and cleanse the galaxy of their filth, but he knows this will not alter the deal he has struck, quid pro quo. The force itself will demand payment when it falls due, best to minimize his debt. He stands and leaves the Sith temple, but for the first time since Crait, he knows where he's meant to be. 

 

*************************

 

As his ship glides through hyperspace, Kylo Ren checks in with his generals. There are no significant changes of note in their position, but he's trying to distract himself. Kylo knows from experience it's a strategy that won't work, that he hasn't been able to think of anything except the scavenger since he first heard of her. After waking alone in the throne room, his obsession has grown into a fist that chokes the air from his lungs. Finding her is everything, the galactic war he's been waging his entire life seems like a distant background noise in comparison. He hasn't dared to think through beyond that goal. He imagines her eyes widening in shock, and her mouth, gods what he has imagined doing with that mouth. He's already half erect from the anticipation of seeing her, but he still has no idea what exactly he's going to say or do when he finally sees her again. 

The frozen ball, barely larger than an asteroid, doesn't even have a name, it's just a rock with a thin atmosphere, oh, and one of the strongest force users to ever live camped out on the surface. Rey could be anywhere, kylo muses, she could live surrounded by wealth and comfort, he'd already offered her the galaxy. But this frozen rock is what she has chosen. The ramp to his ship lowers onto the ice field, and Kylo steps out into the darkness. There are no military facilities, this isn't Crait or even Hoth, just a medium sized bio-dome with a handful of people and droids moving about inside. Kylo is reminded of a pimple on a pure white ass. It's a factory he realizes, using the extreme cold to to grow and manufacture power crystals, the poor cousin of the kyber, used in ship drives. He knows that Rey would understand the mechanics of this process intuitively. This must be an important source of funding for the Resistance. 

And then he sees her, standing outside the dome, waiting for him. Rey is so small physically, but she bends the force around her like a a white hot supernova distorts the fabric of spacetime.

"What are you doing here?" she calls out. As if he hasn't risked everything to chase after her, panting like a dog. He kneels on the ice and looks up at her through the hair that has fallen across his eyes. If there are tears in his eyes, he blames the extreme cold. He recalls how the last time he saw her she had closed the door in his face as he knelt on the salt pan. 

"Rey", it's all he can manage. He feels the force surging between them, the pull to be closer to her is a tidal wave that he can barely withstand. 

She walks up to him, "for the love of R'iia" she snaps, but he knows that she feels it too.

"We need to talk" he blurts out. But he doesn't really mean it, he doesn't have anything to say to her that she doesn't already know, except that she is all he can think about, that the thought of being separated from her is burning him alive. 

"It's too cold to stand around out here" she replies, as if this was any chat with an old friend. He stands and gestures towards the ramp of his shuttle. She pauses for a moment, and Kylo swears the whole galaxy is holding its breath, that generations yet unborn comprehend that their destiny balances on a knife's edge. But she shuffles forward and leads the way up the ramp. 

Rey walks through to the lounge area as if she is as familiar with the layout of the Upsilon command shuttle as she is with the Falcon's. Kylo isn't even surprised anymore, he knows they share more through the bond than either can fully appreciate. Rey sits on the lounge and now it is her turn to look up through her lashes at him. Kylo notices that she is shivering even though she's covered in layers of clothing, it's only now that she pulls down the wrapping around her head to reveal her face. "Is there anything warm to drink?" she asks. He relays her request, and an astro-mech droid rolls up to offer her caf. Rey hugs the cup to draw in the warmth, and Kylo swears this whole time he hasn't formulated so much as a single thought, he's just alive in the moment, watching her every gesture, breathing in her scent. He wants so much, but he fears everything, that any action on his behalf will ripple across the force and he'll lose her forever. He knows he's so hopelessly unbalanced that there is no future for him without her, that is the dust storm and annihilation that he saw in the vision. "I haven't changed my mind Ben" she tells him after she's sipped from the cup. 

"What do you want Rey?" he asks, "I'll give you anything." He can't even find it in himself to care how desperate he sounds.p>

"But you couldn't stop the destruction of our fleet?" she shoots back. 

This is old ground, it's the past and deserves to die, but she's raking over the coals and there is no comfort for either of them. "How many more people need to die before you understand it doesn't have to be this way" he counters.

"As long as there are people willing to fight for their freedom" she replies without missing a beat. They are as divided by the chasm between their beliefs as they were by the void that had parted them on Starkiller base. And yet he notices that she is leaning towards him, he is aware of her every motion and glance. It's like the time they had ridden the elevator together on The Supremacy before entering the throne room, only this time he leans forward and captures her mouth with his own. He knows she is shocked, but then she returns his kiss, and opens her mouth to feel him enter her. He can taste the caf, and he knows that their escalating heart rates have synchronized. Her hands are in his hair, and when she groans into his mouth, something drops in his stomach and he is overwhelmed with need. Kylo draws Rey into his lap and she straddles him with her legs. Every drop of blood has drained into his cock, and when Rey rolls her hips, thrusting against him, he's desperate to feel her fully, but there are so many layers of clothing between them. Rey's busy shrugging off her outer layers but it's taking too long, and he hasn't even started on his own complex layering of garments. Was it too much to ask the force to bring them together in a tropical climate? He's managed to pull off the covers around her face at least, leaving her neck exposed. Kylo is sucking on the skin beneath her jaw, breathing her in when Rey pulls back and looks at him with a grin. "I've wanted to feel your hair for so long", is all she says. Kylo knows that the force and their destiny has aligned around them, this is the fertile landscape that can flow from the bloodshed of the past. 

"I had a vision" he tells her, but it doesn't seem like the right moment to mention the price he had to pay for the information. 

"Oh?", she replies, her eyes wide. She had told him about her vision on Ahch-To, she leans back and waits for him to continue.


	2. Chapter 2

Pieces of the oscillation manifold lay around her as Rey reassembles the secondary cylinder feed. It's not overly technical, it just requires patience to align the lenses that maximize crystal density. She's just about finished and starting to think about dinner, when the force squeezes around her like a vice. He might as well have placed a hand on her shoulder, his presence in the force is so distinct and tangible. Rey knows that Kylo Ren has found her. She wonders if signalling the evacuation alarm is the prudent course of action, but she knows it's already too late, so instead, she instructs a droid on how to close up the unit, and then she starts wrapping herself up, as if there was any chance of staying warm on this ice bucket. 

By the time Rey has stepped outside, the shuttle has already breached atmosphere, and is coming in to land. It's only another breath before she sees him, striding down the ramp, his black cape following behind. How does he make the dark side look so damn good? If she thought that the force was squeezing in on her before, now that he's in front of her, the urge to run straight up to him is overwhelming. Her knees are already flexing to carry her over, but her brain is wondering if he'll run her through with his saber, before turning back up the ramp, just another day's work for the evil over-lord of the galaxy. Using the sort of voice she'd employ to let the teedo know she wasn't an easy target, she calls out to him "What are you doing here?"

And then he kneels on the ice, and Rey's heart, already beating fast, wants to crawl out of her chest and run over to him because her body is a treacherous wench. He calls her name in that deep tone that warms her to the core even standing on a ball of ice, that's endgame as far as her body is concerned, because here she is standing close enough to touch him. When he suggests they enter his shuttle to talk, the tiny part of her brain that isn't hog-tied by the force-bond recalls that she still isn't even sure this isn't a summary execution. But the rest of her brain, and all of her body are so tired of fighting against the pull, so she takes a deep breath and steps forward. 

When Ben leans over and kisses her, Rey's mind just whites out. The tiny cluster of neurons that had kept track of her potential (likely?) execution decide it's not such a bad death if she gets this first. Her hands have found their way into that hair that she's thought way too much about, and she doesn't even know how she ended up straddling his lap, but it feels so right. Rey needs to be closer, she needs to feel all of him up against her, and she can NOT believe that every piece of clothing in the galaxy is somehow between them. But then he mentions a force vision, and despite the distraction of his body beneath her thighs, and the way she's drowning in his scent, Rey can tell by his tone, and the way the force has gathered itself up tight around them, that this is important, this is something she needs to hear. 

If there's anything Rey has learned the hard way, it's how misleading a vision can be. She leans back and Ben tells her what he has seen in the force. When Rey had revealed to Ben her experience in the cave of mirrors, they had told each other that they were not alone, to her, that seemed like a promise. Now she wants him to know that she's still here, even if she won't join the First Order. Rey's not entirely sure what that means in practical reality, but she does know that being with him, talking together like this, is more than just nice. It feels as necessary as food or water, she can't even understand how she'd gone so long without hearing his voice, she certainly doesn't want this to end. So when he finishes speaking, Rey finds herself suggesting that he stays around for the night. She'd been scheduled to go on a supply run to a market in a nearby system the next day, maybe he could come with her and they could talk some more. Is she really asking him out on a date, some part of her brain whispers to itself? It sounds so mundane, as if they were any pair of friends in the galaxy, she's not expecting him to agree, after all, he must have important supreme leader stuff to do. But once again, Ben Solo surprises her when he accepts immediately. So now she stands herself up off his lap, and tells him she's heading back to her quarters for the night, she'll contact him first thing in the morning. Rey doesn't want to leave, her totally unhelpful brain is reminding her just how cold it is outside, and how easy it would be to spend the night here, with Ben's warm body curled around her. But it's moving so fast, and she can't think straight around him, so despite the way he looks at her with those eyes, she leaves his shuttle and heads back to the facility. She'll tell anybody who asks that it's a friend come to visit. Who the hell has access to an upsilon command shuttle? She'll just lie and use the force to fudge her way out of it, falling to the dark side for a pair of pretty eyes is easier than she had imagined. 

 

******************************

 

The next day he's holding a basket for her as they walk through a crowded market place. Ben wears a hood over his head by way of disguise, but he's still ridiculously conspicuous. The stall holders smile and chat with Rey, then glance apprehensively at the wraith following obediently behind. They sit down to eat beneath the shade of some trees. The red fruit that Rey loves is in season, she wants to share it with Ben because it's so delicious, but then she notices some young children playing in a field. "They're about the age Fin was when he was stolen by the First Order" she lets him know. He follows her gaze but doesn't reply. She hands him over half of the ripe sphere she's bitten into, and to break the uncomfortable silence, Rey asks him what it's been like for him in the First Order. 

"You mean what's the life of a warrior-monk like?" he asks, "mostly lonely. I was either being used as a weapon by my master, in one theater of war or another, otherwise I was attending to my training, I'm not sure which was worse." He pauses, "Sometimes it was interesting, when Snoke wanted to find something, for example..." He looks at her and they both think about the first time they met. 

"Is it easier for you now, that you don't have him in your mind?" Rey asks. 

"Better, but not always easier."

They return to the shuttle craft and store away the produce and some mechanical parts that Rey had ordered in for the plant, when Ben turns to her with a sad smile on his face that she can't account for. "Sorry" she hears him say before she swoons in a force-sleep and is caught in his arms. He carries her over to a lounge, then re-sets the coordinates before leaping into hyperspace.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey has returned to her sleeping quarters, and Kylo is lying alone on his bed. He doubts very much that he'll get any sleep tonight. He barely sleeps at the best of times, and lying here with a weeping erection thinking about how Rey had felt on his lap is not the most restful of situations. He takes himself in hand and starts to slowly stroke his shaft, thinking about her mouth and the noise she had made when he was nuzzled against her. Kylo wonders if their force-bond could open tonight, he hasn't seen her through the bond since she shut him out after Crait, but if it opened now and she saw him pulling on his cock and groaning her name he wouldn't care. His body, mind and inky black soul are twisted around her, he wants her to see how she has undone him. He's started to thrust up into his own hand when he becomes aware of a presence standing at the foot of his bed, and he absolutely knows that it isn't Rey. He's suddenly cold and flaccid, his saber flies into his hand, and by its red glow he sees a sith hag staring back with sightless eyes. She's gesturing as if to wave him towards her, "come" she lisps, "bring our beloved, return to us and fulfill your destiny." She's gone just as suddenly, but Kylo has heard the summons. 

He's so attuned to Rey when they're this close that he feels the exact moment that she wakes up, hears her ask him to meet her at a shuttle as if she were speaking in his ear. But how is he supposed to tell her that she'll be travelling for the next 3 cycles to a temple even further off the map than their present location, and that's just to arrive at the base of a mountain. It's a challenging climb to the summit, and the witches don't allow the use of the force, they want you to arrive verging on collapse from exhaustion. And what happens when they finally get to the temple?

What do the hags actually want with Rey? Kylo thinks about how he had naively brought her before Snoke. He swears that he'll never let that happen again. But is that what they'll ask, for him to kill Rey the way Snoke had expected him to? Not only is that never going to happen, but kylo will purge the galaxy of the bitches and anybody else who suggests it. He wouldn't even take her to them if he truly thought this was likely, but something inside him thinks they have other plans. 

As Rey pilots the shuttle towards the marketplace, Kylo wonders why he's going through with this charade. Shouldn't he just show her that he really is a monster and get on with it. But she looks so happy, humming to herself and smiling nervously over at him. He's never had the chance to see her like this before, so instead of knocking her into a force-sleep, he asks her "do you think we choose our own path in this life, or is everything predestined. I never asked to be born a Skywalker, to feel the force quicken within me before I had conscious thought. If I had been given a choice, I might have been a simple pilot, or a scholar with an obscure specialty." She smiles back at him, he's never had this type of easy discussion with anyone before. He could get used to it.

"I think sometimes it must have been the will of the force that BB8 found me that day, everything changed so quickly afterwards. But then I think if that was the case, why did the force leave me alone to rot for so long?"

"I know that I was destined to meet you" he tells her. The intensity of this declaration shatters the casual ease that had grown between them, but if he has to take his lumps in the pursuit of his own destiny, then damned if he won't acknowledge the beauty and grace that has somehow found its way through the cracks into his life. 

The trip to the market takes longer than Kylo had anticipated, he sighs internally and adjusts his plans. It will take five standard cycles to arrive in a shuttle as old and slow as this one. He'd wanted to use his own this morning, but he couldn't think of any reason to suggest it, so instead he had set the auto-destruct sequence for after their departure. Maybe he should just tell her the truth, that he's made a deal with the devil and now he has to deliver her. But what if she doesn't care? What if she thinks this is his problem, and he should just leave her the hell alone? The dust storm from his force vision whispers to him that nobody would want to be entangled with this mess. Also, he knows that the hags aren't going to be patient. Their's is a world of absolute servitude, not polite discussion about whether their "beloved" has actually agreed to the plan. Damn it! He should have just taken her in her sleep the moment he was summoned. But now she's telling him about how she's going to get some red fruit, has he tried them before? He can sense her delight, how can he resist that? 

 

**********************************

 

When Rey comes around from the force-sleep, she leaps forward to attack him, almost succeeding in pushing him over. He has the advantage of height and weight over her, but she has the advantage of an adrenaline surge powered by her overwhelming fury. "I trusted you" she screams. "Why am I always trusting you and having it shoved back in my face. When will I learn. Where are you taking me?"

He's holding her arms down by her sides now, she's seething with rage, not very light-sided at all. If she channeled this intensity she'd be unstoppable he thinks. "Rey, let me explain" he begins. "It will take a while and you'd be more comfortable if I can let you go while we talk."

"Well you'd better start." Her voice is like a fork running down a durasteel wall, cold and unpleasant. "Because I'm going to rip you apart when I get free. Is this an abduction? Are you taking me back to your flagship? Should I expect to be interrogated again?" He feels all the hurt within her directed at him and at the betrayal of her trust. "I'm so stupid" she sobs, no longer the formidable warrior, just a lost child.

"No, Rey, it's not like that, none of it. I said I wouldn't make you join the First Order and I meant it." Actually, maybe he hasn't promised this to her before, but he means it now. 

"Then what the hell are you doing?" she demands to know.

"Did you ever wonder how I was able to find you?" he asks.

"You told me you had a vision"

"Well yes, the vision," he repeats like a stuttering fool. What I didn't tell you was how I came by the experience. Have you ever heard of Darth Bazzil the Unwashed?" Judging by Rey's eyes, bulging even wider, she must think he's gone totally insane. "Anyway," he tries to affect a breezy tone, "Darth Bazzil founded a temple sometime after the 3rd cataclysm. It's renown for the oracles that dedicate their lives to foresight through the force." He hopes this sounds like a quaint old tradition rather than the reality of the blind hags leering at him and demanding his foreskin for their amusement. "Speaking of Darth Bazzil" he continues, although as far as Rey is concerned they're not talking about anything or anyone in particular. "He was a Jedi before he turned to the dark side, and had forsworn attachment. When he founded the temple, he sacrificed that part of himself, he gave up his virtue and embraced his passion."

"How very sith of him," Rey quips.

"Yes, well, it's traditional for supplicants to come before the oracle offering their own virtue, which leads me to ask a somewhat personal question."

Rey can't believe that it's even possible for her to be any more shocked, but he's managed it again. Is he actually looking at her bashfully? The insane sith who has kidnapped her to discuss ancient history?

"I always just assumed you were, but I need to know one way or the other before we arrive. I mean, I wouldn't hold it against you if you weren't but they have taken to calling you their 'beloved', which leads me to suspect...."

"Kylo what the hell are you talking about?"

"Rey, are you a virgin?"

This is the final straw. She had thought that she was mad before, but then, she had thought that Ben Solo was still steering the ship, not this blithering psychopath. With a surge of the force that she can barely contain, she frees her arms and has her hands wrapped around his throat just to underscore her force choke. 

"Rey, Rey..." he gasps. "Please." Rey takes a deep breath and releases him. She should probably be ashamed of herself, but she's really not. 

"I know this is a lot to take in, but the vision I told you about, I think it means we are destined to face the future together, that alone we can never achieve balance, and the galaxy would be doomed to an unending cycle of war."

"Why did you kidnap me Kylo?" she screams

"Because the oracles have asked me to bring you to them and I had committed myself in return for information, for the vision"

"What are they going to do to me?"

"I don't know, but I swear I won't let anything hurt you ever Rey, you're everything to me."

This makes her pause, he seems to have refined his spiel since the throne room. "Why didn't you just tell me this in the first place? We spent the day walking around the market for kriff sakes! 

Now it's Kylo's turn to pause. Why didn't he tell her? Because he was scared of her reaction? Scared that she'd leave him again? He looks down and mumbles "sorry". She continues to glare at him in silence, but she hasn't resumed force choking, so Kylo takes this as unexpected progress.

"How long before we arrive at the temple?" Rey asks.

"5 cycles" he replies, "then we have to climb a mountain. It took me 2 days last time without resting."

"And after this is done," she continues, "will you just let me go, let me return to growing crystals?"

Kylo breathes in before asking, "Rey, why do you want to go back to growing crystals? You're wasted on that ice-slick". 

"Because your mother", she stresses the last two words, "wanted me to make recruitment holos for The Resistance, only I couldn't stomach the idea of sending anyone else out there to die" she screams. 

Kylo is numb with suppressed rage to this piece of news. Of course Leia would want to maximize the exposure of her precious Jedi.

"So instead," Rey continues, " I've tried to find work that I can accept, to actually create something with my hands instead of inspiring anyone to blow something up, although by R'iia's breath, I understand the urge to destroy right now". 

"Rey, if you come with me to see the oracle, I promise that I will take you anywhere you want afterwards, including that patch of frozen slime if that's what you truly want."

"And if I don't want you there with me?" she asks pointedly.

"Then I will spend every breath in my body to convince you it is the will of the force, but in the end, I will respect your decision."

They stand staring at each other until Rey finally relents. "And what are we meant to eat for the duration of these 5 cycles?" she enquirers. 

"Well you bought enough red fruit to last out the next cataclysm," he smirks.


	4. Chapter 4

It was only the second cycle travelling through hyperspace, but Rey was willing to pull a tooth for amusement. On Jakku she had been alone, so she was used to her own company, but she chaffed at the confinement and having so little to do. The unexpected nature of the trip meant she hadn't even brought the Jedi texts along, she was pretty sure Ben would have understood them more than she could, and then there was the issue of her split saber. If she had that here, maybe she could have started working on it, refashioning the weapon into a staff. She'd made some sketches, but the lack of genuine progress only frustrated her more. 

Ben seemed to be just fine. He'd spent almost all of his time meditating, which was yet another thing that made Rey want to pull her hair out. Instead, she leaned over and blew in his face to test his concentration. When he didn't react in any way, she moved closer to his face, slipping out her tongue to poke the tip of his nose. Quicker than she had thought it was even possible to move, he had grabbed her and twisted her around onto the mat, she was pinned beneath his body. "I see you have nothing better to do Rey," his voice was even deeper than usual. 

She smiled up at him "What are you even doing when you meditate?"

"I'm becoming one with the force," he replied, as if this was in any way informative. 

They stare at each other, he's holding both her hands above her head with one of his huge paws, and then he leans down and kisses her. Every cell in Rey's body is suddenly alive, like her entire life was just a dress rehearsal waiting for this moment. Every sense is honed on Ben's mouth, on how he tastes and feels, on the hard planes of his body covering hers. Five cycles is not nearly enough, she wants this moment to last forever. When at last he pulls away, she sits up and follows. 

"Rey, when we come before the force oracles....."

"Yes"

"I don't want to alarm you.."

Rey is instantly alarmed.

"But they're really interested in, obsessed really, about the sex lives of their supplicants. If you're not a virgin they'll know, and they will treat you.....differently."

"What do you mean by differently?"

"Well, there are stories." He pauses, "there's one about a young woman called Petra the unwise. She had been drugged and raped by her brother, so when she woke up, she didn't even know that she wasn't a virgin. When Petra pleaded before the oracles, well lets just say there's a reason she's called the unwise and why whores often call themselves Petra."

"What the hell Ben! Yes I'm a virgin, unless something happened when I was unconscious in your interrogation room. You did tell me that you could take anything you wanted," she glares at him.

Now it's Ben's turn to stutter "I...I...I didn't mean...that's not what I"

"So I'm still a virgin as far as either of us knows?" she asks him. "And what about you Kylo Ren." Rey only ever uses the name to score a point. "Why do you know what it is whores are commonly named?"

Ben has flushed bright red. "The first person I ever kissed was you."

Rey stares at him in disbelief.

"I guess I haven't had the typical experiences of youth."

"But you always seem so sure," Rey replies. "Like you know exactly what you're doing."

He smiles down at her "When I'm close to you, touching and holding you feels as fundamental as the force itself."

Rey is snuggled up against him now, resting her head against his chest. "Yes" is all she manages by way of reply. She runs her hand down his side, "I guess this means we won't be doing anything the oracle wouldn't approve of."

Ben laughs, "oh, they're not the Jedi, they don't disapprove of sex, they just like to have a ring-side seat."

Rey stares up at him, but he continues "if you want something to do, I could teach you a writing meditation that I have always found soothing." He proceeds to set up a writing station using a brush from the tool box and water on the dark durasteel floor. He shows her how he fashions each letter of the ancient script with focused intent and how that centers his mind, allowing him to feel the flow of the force. It's not until Rey's stomach grumbles for food that she even realizes how many hours they've spent meditating in this way. 

After their meal, Ben contacts his generals to update them briefly, the shuttle doesn't have the capacity for secured communications, so it is a perfunctory message without any details. The next cycle, they start to practice weapons training and sparring together. There's not enough space on the shuttle, but they clear out the lounge area and use whatever they can find. Rey manages to fashion some practice sabers from re-purposed struts. Ben takes care to shield his mind, which means Rey has to dig deeper to feel the force, rather than just free-loading off him. She knows that she's improving with the instruction, even if she's distracted by the way the sweat runs across Ben's body, she especially likes the way it pools in the dips around his collar bones. Rey can even admit to herself that maybe Ben really is the teacher that she needs. At night, they sleep curled up around each other, she likes to hear his heartbeat beneath her ear, and she feels safe tucked into his arms.

When they finally arrive, Rey thinks she should have asked more questions about where they were headed. She had expected a spaceport, or even just some type of settlement, if the temple was as important as Ben seemed to imply. But he guided her to land in an open field next to a stream. There were some shaggy beasts with great long horns grazing in the fields, and snow capped mountains for as far as she could see. A row of ragged flags fluttered in the breeze. It was beautiful. "What now?" she asked.

"The ascent must commence at midnight" he tells her.

"For a bunch of people demanding an audience, they sure have a lot of rules" Rey observes.

"The best thing to do now is rest. You won't get the chance again until after this is all over."

Rey didn't think she'd actually sleep, she's so keyed up about what lies in front of them, but Ben wakes her up in the deep of night. "Are you ready?" he asks.

"What if I said no?"

He just raises his eyebrows, so they shoulder their packs and start out beneath the crescent moon rising over the mountains. They walk along following the stream up a steep incline, mostly in silence, listening to the water flowing over the stones. It was nice, Rey thought to herself. "Where do all the people live?" she finally asked him. Apart from the line of ragged flags, Rey hasn't seen any other signs of habitation since they landed. 

"There aren't any. Only those that live in the temple. It's said that the whole planet was once populated, but the oracles stole the people's dreams and they all went insane."

It was hard to think of any reply to this, so they continued on in silence. The path soon veered to cross the stream and Rey could see that a stone wall rose up on the far side of a bridge, the climb would soon begin in earnest. But standing before them, blocking the narrow bridge was a small figure dressed in rags. It looked more like a bundle of old twigs set up to frighten birds than an actual person. Rey caught the smell of putrid rotting flesh and almost heaved as the figure whispered "I am the toll keeper". 

"What is your price," she heard Ben respond. 

"Knowledge" came the reply. "If you answer my question, you may pass. If you fail, then you must pay with your memories."

What did she know about, Rey thought to herself. How to bargain with Unkar Plutt for enough rations to stay alive for another day? How to align the lenses in a manifold to maximize crystal growth? Somehow she doubted very much the question would be about anything she might know. If all her memories were wiped, would she even know who she was, or would she wander across the fields like one of the shaggy beasts they had passed. 

"Ask" Ben replied.

"What was Petra's gift?" the shadowy figure intoned.

Rey looked up at Ben. At least she knew he was aware of this Petra. "Well?" she asked.

"It's said that Petra was raped by one hundred men every night for a thousand days," Kylo informed her. This stream is said to be her tears." 

Rey looked down into the icy flow, and then she knew, she just knew. There was only one thing a woman needed to have after one thousand miserable days. "Perseverance," Rey replied as clear as a bell. She felt Ben still beside her, but the toll keeper stepped aside and cleared their path. They crossed the bridge to stand in front of a sheer stone face. It reminded Rey of her days scavenging on Jakku, scaling the wreckage of a star destroyer for anything of value. She could already see the footholds that she would use, and she suddenly felt a certain grim determination and calm settle over her. 

Like a pair of spiders flat to the stone face, they scaled the wall. Ben's advantage was his longer reach and brute strength, but Rey was light and limber. When she couldn't reach a handhold, she leaped across onto the rock with no more than two fingers wedged into a crack. It was like the written meditation she had practiced on the shuttle, she wasn't using the force to lift her body or manipulate the rocks, but she could feel it flow through them, carrying them along with the current. The stone wall was the only thing that had ever been, and she was a part of it, a living extension of its will. How long it took before they arrived at a ledge wide enough for them to rest on she couldn't say, but the sun had risen and they looked out across the land.

"We're making good time," Ben said as he handed her a drinking flask. "At this rate, we'll be there in another day. She felt herself smile, and then they continued on. Sometimes the wall leaned inwards and they could almost walk rather than climb, but then it would bulge out, and they were forced to scramble on the underside like flies across a heppabore's ass. The sun set and still they climbed. At one point her hold slipped on a slick of ice and she would have fallen if Ben hadn't reached out and grabbed her in time. They had passed bundles of rags wrapped around shattered bones caught in crevices along the way, and Rey had a fleeting moment to wonder what her own remains would look like, weathered with age and fluttering in the constant breeze. 

As the sun rose, at last she saw the temple squatting in defiance on an outcropping just above them. The deep fatigue that she had not allowed herself to acknowledge was suddenly all she could feel. Every inch forward was like pulling a heavy load of scrap up a sand dune, until at last they were there, standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the temple.


	5. Chapter 5

When they enter through the front doors into the open space beyond, there is a group of beautiful young acolytes waiting for them. "Welcome, welcome," they say, as they warmly embrace both Rey and Kylo. "You must be tired, let us show you to the bathhouse and then you can rest before the feast."

What the hell is going on, Kylo thinks. The last time he had entered these doors, there was no offer of a bath, he'd stumbled before the old hags covered in the stale sweat and grime of his climb. And did they say feast? The last time he had been grateful for the handful of dried rations left in his pack. What has changed? Rey, Rey was the difference. He looks at her, but he doesn't need the force to see how relieved she is to be offered the chance to rest after the climb. There doesn't seem like much he can complain about anyway, so he allows himself to be lead to a subterranean chamber into the bathhouse.

"Are these the oracles?" Rey whispers to him, as they walk past mosaic images of exotic creatures frolicking in a watery wonderland. 

"No," Kylo smiles, "the oracles are a more mature group, these are the acolytes, their attendants." 

"Mature?" Rey questions. "Just how old are they?"

"I'm unaware that there have been any recent additions." he informs her dryly. "The current lot were installed when the temple was consecrated."

"But you said it was founded after the 3rd cataclysm."

"Yes"

"That would make them..."

"Many thousands of years old? Yes, it's said that Bazzil saw the Spirit of Nyenthi 'Oris on Kashyyyk when it was still a sapling. If you've heard Chewie talk about The Great Tree, you get a sense of it."

Rey nodded.

Now they were in the bathhouse itself. It was dimly lit and very warm. The deep pool of water stretched out before them, larger than the shuttle craft they'd flown in on. For a temple founded by a sith with the sobriquet of 'unwashed', it was a surprising discovery. 

The acolytes started to undress them, Kylo merely lifted his arms to assist the process, but Rey pushed one away and wrapped her arms about her body. "I thought you wanted to bathe?" Kylo smirked at her.

"I want the water," she replied, "but I don't need anybody to take my clothes off me."

By now he had been stripped naked and stood before her. "Well what are you waiting for then?" he questioned.

"Don't you care that all these people can see you?"

"Rey, this is their job, think of them as droids if you must think about them at all."

"And that is why," Rey replied tartly "you might be the ruler, but you will never understand those you seek to lead," with this statement, she slipped off the last of her clothes and took his hand.

Kylo stared openly at her. He had always known Rey was beautiful, had been drawn to her in the force irrespective of her physical appearance, but here, standing vulnerable before her, he was struck speechless. It was as if the sun had appeared from behind the clouds, her radiance dazzled him. She smiled and led him to the water. 

"I've never seen such a large bathing pool," she exclaimed, it must be heated geothermally." 

She was ever the engineer, Kylo mused.

The bath attendants offered over sweet smelling soaps, he took some in hand and rubbed it over Rey's body. She leaned into him like liquid heat as he washed her skin and the tresses of her beautiful hair. When he was done, she made him bob down so that she could do the same for him. When they emerged, they were led to a marble bench and invited to lie back. A beautiful young woman poured warm fragrant oil over him and began to massage it into his skin. He'd have enjoyed it more if he could stop glaring at the young man doing the same to Rey. Before the attendant could touch anything that Kylo considered exclusively his own, he dismissed both acolytes and took over the task, running his hands over Rey's muscles, feeling the curve of her hips and the pleasant softness of her breasts as he anointed them with the oil.

Their clothes had been removed and replaced with white robes that opened at the front. Kylo was more than happy to don the fresh apparel. He strapped his saber around his hips to secure it closed and turned back to Rey. She was asking the acolytes about where they had taken her clothes, as if those scraps were anything to hang onto. "Why do you care Rey?"

She glared at him without replying. They were led out of the bathhouse to a smaller chamber with comfortable lounges. 

"You may rest before the feast," their accommodating hosts let them know.

"When will we see the oracle?" Kylo inquired.

"Soon, first we will feast," with that they were left alone. Kylo sat down on the low wide couch and Rey followed straight behind. They were so tired from the climb and so relaxed after bathing, they fell asleep as soon as they had closed their eyes. 

He woke as soon as the acolyte reentered the chamber. "It is time for the feast," they were informed. They were led to a great hall with a table heaped high with food. Kylo and Rey were shown to the central two lounges, clearly the place of honor. There were other people on couches around the table, maybe fifty in total, with acolytes to serve each one. They all wore the same white robes that Kylo and Rey had on. A server came over and poured a drink into goblets for each of them. He recognized it as his favorite brew, a rare Alderean wine that was almost impossible to find. As far as he knew, his mother owned the last remaining cask in the whole galaxy. Why were the force hags trying to impress him, Kylo wondered. If he didn't feel like a sacrificial lamb being fattened for the slaughter, he might have found this more enjoyable.

Some musicians had started to play, and Kylo watched Rey swaying her body as she listened to the beat. There was so much of the galaxy that she had never seen or experienced, so much he could show her if she let him. An attendant approached the couch and offered to feed him. Kylo thought she looked a lot like the woman from the bathhouse, but they all looked vaguely similar so he couldn't be sure. He did know that he wasn't going to sit around watching Rey being fed by anybody else, so he dismissed her and moved to sit besides Rey, who was still too entranced by the music to have even noticed her food lackey had been sent away. 

Kylo knew this was a trap, he could feel the dark side of the force luring them in like the softest silk woven by the blackest spider. But when Rey turned back to face him and he offered her some fruit that she ate from his hand, sucking up the juices as they ran down his fingers and onto her chin, he decided that he really didn't care. 

Now Rey was sitting straddled across his lap again, where she belonged. She was feeding him something plump and delicious, and he in turn was holding a goblet out for her to drink from. By now the other guests had mostly either paired off with each other, or else taken up with one or more of the acolytes. Everybody seemed too caught up in the affairs of their own couch to be overly aware of their neighbors'. Rey reached for the goblet but sloshed the contents across the front of her robe. Kylo began to lick it off her chest in the dip between her breasts. She moaned and he pulled the robe down from her shoulders to reveal her breasts fully, taking one into his mouth to taste the pert bud, while his hand cupped the other. Rey arched her back and began to thrust her hips against his stiff cock. Her robe was split open and his was open to the waist, so he could feel her wet center spread plush against his shaft. He moved both his hands to her ass and ground her against him. He'd never felt anything so perfect in his life, Rey looked debauched, he wanted more. Kylo started sliding down the couch and shifting Rey, maybe she belonged in his lap, but right now, he was imagining her sitting on his face, when a gong was struck, reverberating through the hall. The oracles entered the chamber.

The chamber fell silent as the hags circled around him and Rey. Once again the old bitches had sent his raging hard-on into fast shriveling retreat. Rey had pulled up the shoulders of her robe as one of the hags stepped up to place a flower wreath on her head. The old crows gestured them forwards, so still holding hands, Kylo and Rey followed towards a stage at the end of the hall. As they approached, the curtains opened up to reveal a throne carved from purple stone shot through with white veins. The intensity of the color was throbbing like a turgid cock, from vivid purple to a washed out almost-grey. 

Seated on the throne was a tiny black figure wrapped in gold. Kylo was reminded instantly of Snoke's flamboyant style, but on this diminutive figure, it looked more like the wrappings on a mummified corpse. Kylo couldn't even tell if the figure was alive, there was no force signature around it at all. It would be just like the senile old biddies to venerate something that had been dead for several centuries, he thought bitterly.

"Kylo Ren," rasped the hags in unison. "We offer you power, we offer you eternity."

A vision fully formed entered his head. He stood on an island in the midst of the blood river, only now he saw himself the undisputed master of his domain, his power was unchallenged and absolute. As his gaze followed the flow of the river, he saw other islands all the way to the horizon, and standing on each was his heir. This is what he was being offered, legacy. All he had to do was turn and claim his bride, plant his seed and she would be the wellspring from which his line would prosper and flow. 

If the stupid old bats would leave well enough alone, Kylo fumed, he's fairly confident that he'd already be balls deep in her on the couch. This whole ceremony is pointless as far as he can tell. It is only when he turns to look at Rey, that he registers the look of terror and loathing on her face. He feels her trembling so he opens his mind to her and instantly comprehends. 

When the curtain had opened to reveal the throne, a veil had slipped from before her eyes. She perceived all around her as it truly was in the force. The guests were empty suits of clothing moving about in fits and starts as a breeze ran through them. The acolytes were twisted and aged, they were brethren to the toll keeper, bundles of rags and old sticks. The food was maggot blown and putrid, oozing over the floor. The oracles in comparison were in the first flush of youth, with hair that flowed over their firm breasts and clear bright eyes. But it was the shrunken form on the throne that was the true surprise. Before them sat Darth Bazzil in all his glory. His dark skin reflected the glow from his throne, his plush lips stretched into a smile.

"Take her," he commanded, "seize your destiny."

The oracles start to chant "Plant the seed of the bitter fruit, plant the seed of the bitter fruit."

Kylo assessed the pieces of the puzzle he had found himself in until comprehension dawned and he understood the design of the trap fully. If he took Rey now, she would bare his child and fulfill the force vision, but he would lose her love forever. It is a poisoned chalice that he has been offered. It was never enough that he just claimed her, he had to choose the vision of his most cherished ambition over her, and be willing to use her merely as a tool to grasp at it. 

Kylo drew his saber and stood between Bazzil and Rey. "We will steer our own path through the force," he states. "This is no business of yours. I have repaid my debt by bringing her before you." A strong wind started to blow through the temple, it toppled over the tables and the acolytes were blown about like the ragged flags he had seen.

"NO!" Rey screamed, using her voice for the first time since they left the couch. She doesn't have a weapon but then Kylo sees that force lightening has pooled around her hands. It's an ability he's only ever seen dark-siders wield, and fuck does she look hot with her eyes flipped golden and her hands aglow. She could shock him all night and he'd crawl back on hand and knee to beg for more. "Leave," she cries, and now the ground is starting to shake which gains the attention of anybody not already terrified by the ravishing vision of raw power that is Rey. The oracles and Bazzil try to shield themselves from the onslaught. 

"Lets go babe," Kylo says. He grabs her and pulls her out of the room and into an elevator that runs down to the base of the rock face. In half an hour they've descended back down through the mountain it took so long to climb. When they get back to the shuttle Rey is pleased to notice that the shaggy beasts appear unfazed by recent events. She powers up the engines and they make as hasty a retreat as the old shuttle can manage, still dressed in the robes that only a sith master could love.

That night, kylo holds Rey against him in the bed. "I should tell you," he says, "that if my balls don't get any release soon, they're going to shrivel up and turn permanently blue."

"Oh poor baby," she teases, but she's fondling them gently and barring the unexpected arrival of an oracle or any other denizen of the underworld, Kylo thinks, this is it. I'm finally going to drive it home and cross the finish line. Just then an emergency holo activates and fills the room with a larger than life image of Leia Organa, blabbering on about something she seems to think is important. His balls constrict with an audible scrunch and Rey bursts into laughter.


End file.
